For a couple of weeks, people around the country have been taking the “ice bucket challenge” by dumping buckets of ice water on their heads to raise awareness for ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) better known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease.”

This past 4th of July was the 75th anniversary of Gehrig’s “Luckiest Man” retirement speech, and June 2 was the 73rd anniversary of his death. He died as a young man, not even in his forties yet. He was an amazing baseball player– Hall of Famer, 7 time All Star, 6 time World Series winner, and played most consecutive games until Cal Ripken Jr. broke the record in 1995– and I have heard that he was supposed to be very nice to fans. But how Gehrig died is the most important part of his story.

On July 4, 1939, Gehrig gave a speech to the fans at Yankee Stadium ending his career at the age 35.  Gehrig’s words became known as the Gettysburg Address of baseball, and is probably the most famous speech in sports history. His most famous line is: “Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth.” Earlier this year MLB first basemen from all around the league made a video to honor the 75th anniversary of Gehrig’s speech.

When Lou Gherig gave his famous farewell speech, he was recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.  It later became better known from that time on as just ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease.  ALS is a neurodegenerative disease like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. It causes things like trouble speaking, swallowing, and breathing.  After Gehrig died, people have been looking for cures for this deadly disease, but after 70+ years of research, no one has been able to find a cure.

To raise money and awareness for the ALS Association, people have been taking the Ice Bucket Challenge and have been tagging their videos with #IceBucketChallenge on Twitter and challenging their friends to do it too.  Famous Nats people to have done it include Bryce Harper and Screech.  Lots of other MLB’ers have done it too.

Last night, I did it too!  See my video below of me taking the Ice Bucket Challenge.

Now that I have done the Ice Bucket Challenge,

I CHALLENGE ALL THE NATIONALS ARCHIVE ARCHIVISTS to do it too!

(Except for Brendan, who has already done it)

For those of you who don’t know, the Nats Archive is a group of die-hard Washington Nationals fans who make all sorts of funny photoshops and jokes.  Check out their website at www.thenationalsarchive.com and @NatsArchive on Twitter.

I can’t wait to see all your videos!  Let’s see if we can get all the Nats fan base and players in on it.  I challenge everyone who reads this to do the challenge or make a donation to the ALS Association!

Visit http://www.alsa.org to learn more about ALS and to donate money for a cure.

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